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Fiction Writing: Discover Your MonkeyBoy
When I was in school, I never ran with the popular crowd. I never fit into any clique, really. I drifted between the artsy folk, the drama club members, and a few of the freaks who spent time between classes having a smoke out back.
I was always the type of kid who was a day late and a dollar short when it came to fads. I had my own hobbies that never seemed to fit with what others were doing. I wasn’t particularly athletic (although I was part of the varsity track team and tried out for basketball), I spent my time with my nose in a sketchbook.
I gave up the violin and guitar because I couldn’t stand the teasing of my peers when I carried the cases to school. (Little did I know that playing a guitar would one day be cool.) Relentless taunting brought on low self-esteem and made me quiet and reserved.
I guess if I were a kid today, I’d be considered a geek.
MonkeyBoy and the Forbidden Kingdom
One thing that set me apart from my peers was my imagination. I had plenty of it – and I still do. I saw the world differently.
To me, the woods near the playground were more than just a bunch of trees; it was a magical forest. Cartoons weren’t just entertainment, they were works of art. National Geographic and the Audubon magazine were more than just resources for book reports, they were full of stunning photographs waiting to be drawn in my sketchbook.
These things inspired me.
Jurgen Wolff posted Where Your Next Story is Hiding, and it made me dig deep and remember what moved me when I was younger.
Wolff mentioned that John Fusco (screenwriter of Young Guns and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron) was inspired to write The Forbidden Kingdom from a bedtime story he read to his son.
I think the Powers That Be were trying to tell me something when I found a little gem of a blog through a Twitter follower, Sandi Law of Geeked Off. Sandi wrote about what it was like to raise her son, a geek, who she affectionately calls “MonkeyBoy”.
At the end of her post, Sandi writes:
Find your kid’s inner geek and bring it out. You might be surprised at how much self confidence is gained by embracing ones geekiness.
MonkeyBoy’s limitless imagination made me think. My response to Sandi’s post was this:
I disagree on one point though; the thing isn’t to bring out the inner geek in your child, but to bring out the inner child in yourself. All of us still play games, read comics and watch cartoons, stuff we loved doing as children. What makes us geeks (gah…and you didn’t hear that admission from me!) is that we never let go of being a kid. We’ve retained our imagination and creativity. The only difference is that the toys have gotten bigger and more expensive.
Find Your Inner Child Again
I hate to use the term “inner child”. I think it’s been horribly overused by one too many new-agers, but there’s no other way to describe embracing everything that made childhood so wonderful. We all have a place deep inside where we’ve locked away what made us happy and what gave us inspiration.
Some of us still have the key to that door and we visit it occasionally, like a trip into the attic. Others lock that door and never go back again.
There’s no reason why you can’t go back. Now that you’re older and have the means and ways to make your dreams happen, it’s that much sweeter. Even if you don’t have the means to make your dreams happen, you can live them out through the characters that you create.
Take a moment to remember what inspired you as a child. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the ideas come to you once you open the dusty old chest in the corner of your mental attic.
Clean off the cobwebs and toss the old teddy bear in the washer. Call your imaginary friend and get caught up on old times.
Your best stories are right inside of you.
Help spread the word!
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@Kelly No worries. I’m actually glad you did because it was bugging me.
By the way, Gordon also has a great book about learning to paint watercolors. Good stuff.
How Not To Write’s last blog post..Why Writing Matters or How I Helped Save an Old Stone House
@ How Not to Write, Kelly and James- One of the top ten reasons to have artist in residence programs in middle and lower schools!!!! To put back what is taken away from them. Seriously. First hand in the field work here.
I handed a little boy in second grade a big fat paint brush and said, “Okay paint that strip of river on our huge piece of canvas…his eyes widened…Me? he questioned.. “yes, who else? It’s your river.” He told me (second grade now), no one ever lets him do this. We, 60 kids and I, made a huge collage canvas in a little over two hours, of all the places his grade and the McGehee 6th grade girls went that year in a foundation literacy program…putting that spark back in…aiding that discovery…still brings tears and joy to me…We made a rainforest in their own school stairwell two stories high. Behavior problems, academic disparities disappear. You give them another way to respond to everything that comes their way, another arrow in the quiver..one that gets drummed out too quickly if we do nothing.
I LOVE DOT. I used it as much for grownups as for children.
Just give them supplies and play … close to my heart here…. I will bring out the artist in any kid, just give me a bit of time and some supplies.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post..The Language of Line
This is one of my joys working in community theater as an actor and a director. Working with the kids, the teens, who like myself wander in and think they can’t do anything and we give them a chance to open up and find their talent.
When I was 15, I was a confused druggie girl who showed up one day at a community theater. They handed me a paint brush and let me help paint the set. They didn’t look down at me for the way I dressed or my *bad* attitude. I found a place where I was accepted. Well, that bad attitude and the drugs melted away as I was able to express myself through acting and painting and carpentry.
Thank God for them. I have no idea what would have happened to me. I’ve been there ever since.
Wendi Kelly’s last blog post..Slow Cooking Frogs
Wendi- You just made my morning. There are oodles of kids and teens out there to hand a brush, a camera, a pen…the wiggles and giggles and the ooh and aahs…priceless.
My older teenage cousin Joanne took me to her Saturday art classes at a caretaker’s stone cottage out on a beautiful rolling hill one sunny morning and for most of the year when I was in fourth grade. To model actually, but they let me play with all of their art supplies in between sittings. The scent of the paint, the clay, the light and excitement in everyones’ eyes…I was hooked then and there. Oh, I had always been artistic and my parents feed that, but as “cute”, just like the dance lessons…But these were real artists and they welcomed me in.
My mentor John Scott always insisted that, we “pass it on”…and I agree. The ROI on that is beyond calculation.
Thanks for reminding me.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post..The Function of Form
The little girl stood in the rain as the thunder echoed. She smiled and closed her eyes enjoying the sense of danger and excitement. Until her mother called her in from the rain, she looked back to the house and sighed. Her storm went away as she entered the house, the rain stopped and the wind died. She looked out the window longing to be out there to make the wind pick up agian. Then lightning flash for a moment outside hitting a tree that grew near the house. The storm was longing fo her too.
J.Morgan´s last blog ..Kakashi Vs. Bleach